This invention relates generally to gardening tools and more particularly concerns rakes used in the gathering and bagging of grass clippings, leaves and the like.
While known grass and leaf rakes are reasonably effective in the collection of grass clippings and leaves, they are relatively clumsy in the bagging of the collected materials. Typically, either a hand or hand-held mechanical device is used in conjunction with a rake held in the other hand to pick up the material to be bagged, making it difficult to manipulate the receptacle into which the materials are to be deposited without dropping some or all of the material held between the rake and the opposing hand or device. This task becomes especially frustrating when the receptacle is one of the common grass and leaf bags which are difficult to maintain in an open condition.
To resolve this problem, a variety of mechanical linkages and attachments have been added to rakes so that the rake can be manipulated with one hand, leaving the other hand free to assist in bagging. However, the complexity of many of these mechanical linkages and attachments makes these rakes comparatively expensive and subject to damage. Worse than this, however, these added attachments result in a number of levers, prongs, springs and the like protruding and extending beyond the normal contour of the rake which cause the rake to become entangled in flowers, shrubs, tree roots, wood and wire fencing and other rake devouring paraphernalia in which grass clippings and leaves tend to collect.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide grass rake tongs which facilitate bagging of collected materials without diminishing the effectiveness of the tongs as a raking or collecting mechanism.